


Toys'R'Us

by tcourtois



Category: Football RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-08 06:56:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3199724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tcourtois/pseuds/tcourtois





	Toys'R'Us

This winter break, whilst also injured, I’d been allowed to go away for some family time. It was hoped that getting away from Dortmund for a while would help my recovery from the injury and being away was definitely helping me to stop thinking about it. I was plagued with injuries lately, and only my kids could distract me from that fact.

My wife was working in Paris for the weekend so I took the opportunity to have the children all to myself just before Christmas and do some Christmas shopping with them (or browsing as Santa gets his elves to make all the presents). I didn’t know what they wanted for Christmas, they had been very secretive with their lists, saying that they were for Santa’s eyes only. I was ok with that, because I knew as soon as they saw where I was taking them they would tell me what they wanted for Christmas.

I’d never visited New York before, so had asked some friends where I should stay and where I should take the kids for the best experiences. I’d taken them to Central Park and we had then gone ice skating, but I was building up the excitement to where I really wanted to go with them.

~

They were both mesmerised by the lights in Times Square. They were admittedly pretty spectacular, absolutely everything was lit up. It was crowded but not too crowded thankfully as we weaved through people. I held my son’s hand, my daughter in my arms, peeking over my head to look at the people and all of the Christmas lights.

As we approached the toy store, they began to realise where we were going. Mostly because there were a few characters outside trying to get people to go in. There was an Olaf from Frozen and an Elmo and that was enough to excite both of my children, who clapped in delight and started to point to make sure that I was taking them in. I don’t think they knew that I had planned this little trip into the store.

They were very different kids, and I knew this would mean several hours in the store on various levels but, as a big kid at heart I was sure that I could manage that.

As soon as we got inside the first thing I noticed was the giant Ferris wheel in the middle. That was quite a centrepiece. We had tried that ride at the fair but neither of them had really liked the height so neither was asking to go on it with me, they just enjoyed watching it for a few moments.

“Daddy there’s dinosaurs, Lego, and Willy Wonka land!” My son said, tugging the bottom of my shirt. I guess that was where we were going first, I wasn’t going to argue with him. He was really getting excited for Christmas, we had decorated the tree before we had left and it was always his job to put the star on top. This year, he let his sister help and they put it on together.

I knew that he was going to ask for Lego as soon as we went up to that floor, and he walked over to the animated Lego dinosaur. I really hoped there wasn’t a kit for that because it would take hours to build and I would have to help him.

Thankfully the dinosaurs came in much smaller sizes. I asked him if he wanted anything before Santa comes.

“I do want something Daddy.” He held onto my hand and we walked through the entire Lego section which was probably bigger than our house, straight into some sort of winter wonderland, where he went straight over to an Elsa doll.

By this point his sister was asleep in my arms, the excitement and lights had been a little bit too much for her and she needed a nap.

I looked at him a little puzzled.

He shrugged and put a finger over his mouth to shush me.

“Lila really wants this for Christmas daddy but don’t tell. I read her Santa letter that Mummy helped her write.” He picked up the doll and put it into our basket.

“You don’t want anything for yourself?” I asked in surprise.

He shook his head. “I want my sister to have a nice first Christmas.” I ruffled his hair and smiled down at him. He had been our only child for nearly four years of his life and had been pretty spoilt as a result. It was really very sweet that he wanted to now share Christmas with the newest family member. Lila was nearly a year old now, and loved all the things that toddlers her age did. The Elsa doll was more like a stuffed toy that an actual doll, so was very age appropriate.

“I think we should go and look at the Lego again, because we need something to build on Christmas day while Mummy and Grandma are making lunch and Grandpa and Lila are napping.” He nodded and grinned at that idea. He was suddenly then, very excited about Christmas again, and slightly hyper. I loved him most in these moods, he was the most enthusiastic child and it brought out the child in me.

We had both become very enthralled by Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, so when we saw those Lego sets we went straight over. It was difficult to decide which ones to get, but the best had to be one that included a dragon, a cave, and some castles.

“Have we settled on this one?” I asked, holding up the box.

“Yes I didn’t ask Santa for that one.”

I think I was more excited about building it. He went around all of the other sets, picking them up, shaking the boxes and putting them back again.

There were other children around him who were doing the same, the parents of those kids looked flustered. I thought then, that I was very privileged to be able to give my children anything they asked for. I would hate to struggle at Christmas to bring a smile to their faces.

Lila stirred in my arms but didn’t wake.

Just then a flustered Marcel appeared beside me. I’d dragged him and his daughter along for this trip. She was just a year younger than my boy, and they got on well. I saw in Marcel’s basket that he had an Elsa doll, and Barbie set.

Amie went to join Thomas at the Lego, there were some Disney princess sets just behind but she went over to see what he was looking at.

A few minutes later she came back with a sad expression on her face.

“What’s wrong sweetie?” Marcel asked.

Thomas then came back over, Amie shook her head and wouldn’t speak so he spoke for her. “There’s a girl with no hair.” Marcel exchanged worried glances with me. They were a little young to have terminal illness explained to them.

They were both a little upset by what they had seen, so we steered them away to pay for their toys in the hope that they would be distracted by what we had bought and would forget.

~

After we had paid, we saw the girl again. We were very close to the girl and her parents as they left the store just ahead of us. I saw that they were empty handed and the girl was crying. The mother mumbled something along the lines of “we can’t afford Christmas after the medical bills.” That broke my heart a little, and I could tell that Marcel felt the same.

“Why isn’t she excited about Christmas daddy?” Thomas asked me.

“I’m sure she is really Thomas, its okay.” I pulled him close to me.

“She doesn’t have anything.” Amie mumbled. She looked into her bag that Marcel was carrying. The family had stopped in front of us then to try to comfort their daughter. Amie dived into her bag and pulled out her Elsa doll, and very quickly before we had realised that she was gone, she went over to the girl, wrapped her arms around her and gave her the doll.

We then went over, wondering what Amie was doing.

She looked up at her father, shrugging, she said “She wants and deserves it more than I do daddy, I have lots of dolls.”

The girl thanked her. Her parents were a little shocked.

“What a lovely thing to do Amie.” I said. Then I introduced myself to the family.

“Marco Reus, we know who you are. It’s wonderful to meet you.” The father said, shaking my hand.

“I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas.” Trying to make light of the situation that I had overheard, I couldn’t think what else to say.

The mother spoke softly, just to myself and Marcel the two adults. “Thank you for your daughter’s generosity, we fear that this is her last Christmas. God bless you all.”

Amie and Thomas, as I watched them, tore a sheet of paper out of a notebook and wrote their addresses on it in barely legible yellow crayon, asking the girl to be their pen pal.

~

We parted ways, but I couldn’t help but think of that poor little girl. As we sat together at dinner, I couldn’t help but tell Marcel over and over what a wonderful and selfless daughter he had. He told me that Thomas would have done the same had it been a sick little boy who liked Lego, I thought he may have been right.

When we put the children to bed later we told them Christmas stories of the fat man dressed in red who delivers presents and not one of them had a bad thought, all excited for the big day.

“I hope that my new friend gets a new one of whatever part is broken for Christmas. Santa can do that. Elves can make anything, they have magic.” She said quietly, I could tell that they were all drifting off to sleep.

Thomas disagreed. “The elves can’t build Lego as well as my dad can.”


End file.
